Published on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
in the WPLG News

Man Who Injured State Trooper Surrenders

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A man accused of slamming his pickup truck into a Florida Highway Patrol trooper’s cruiser, seriously injuring him last year, turned himself in on Wednesday.

Robert Dimmie Jr. is charged with two counts each of driving under the influence with serious bodily injury and DUI with property damage, and one count of DUI with injury.

Dimmie had been sought by the Florida Highway Patrol since the state attorney’s office of Broward County filed the arrest warrants Jan. 12.

One year ago Monday, trooper Darryl Haywood Jr. pulled over a motorist on Florida's Turnpike and was in his patrol cruiser when Dimmie's pickup truck veered onto the shoulder and rammed it from behind. The impact pushed the patrol car into a Hyundai that Haywood had just pulled over.

Haywood suffered a severe concussion and has not returned to duty.

Haywood's father was killed in October 2004 when his cruiser crashed into a tree on Interstate 4 in Volusia County. He was trying to stop a speeding motorcyclist when a tire on his cruiser blew out.

Haywood Jr. is the youngest person to become a state trooper. He was 20 at the time of the crash.

Dimmie was being held at the Broward County jail.